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“This is our Time”: Nozinja takes shangaan to the world
Nozinja feat. Tiyiselani Vomaseve “Kuna… by brtvofficialWhile Boiler Room was in South Africa forits most recent Stay True Journey with Ballantines Scotch Whisky, they recorded a special film with Richard Mthethwa – aka Zinja Hlungwani, but best known as Nozinja – and then caught up with him afterwards to get a little background on how he feels to be an ambassador for a sound with a very particular history.
Nozinja occupies a unique place in the South African electronic music world. Where others have taken house or hip hop as their template and hybridised these with local styles to create something new, he is the producer who has most unabashedly used traditional rhythms – the hyper-speed percussion of the Shangaan dances he attended in Soweto – as his base.
The style he invented as a result, Shangaan electro, has been a runaway success, with international festival audiences falling at his feet and those of the deranged dancers who accompany his performances – leading to a highly productive partnership with WARP records, and the great Shangaan Shake remix album on Honest Jon’s.
Nozinja Lodge released June 1 on Warp Records
Shangaan electro innovator Nozinja presents his debut album on Warp Records, an invigorating blast of future-facing dance music from Limpopo, South Africa.
Nozinja Lodge sees the producer test the frantic upper limits of Shangaan Electro on white-knuckle, rave-channelling cuts like Baby Do You Feel Me and Vatswelani, while enjoying the freedom to take his foot off the gas and bring a deeper, lilting touch to his trademark sound on Vomaseve Hina and closing track Jaha. Featuring a community of Shangaan vocalists alongside Nozinja, the songs take in themes of love, faith and tribal customs – while endlessly chasing the visceral thrill of the dance.
The record has a unique soul, stamped with the spirit of the Shangaan people, their language and musical history. Coming out of South Africa’s vibrant post-apartheid cultural landscape but with no clearly discernible peers, Nozinja is a true visionary of the 21st century digital diaspora.
This summer Nozinja will be in residence at Station to Station, a ’30 Day Happening’ curated by Doug Aitken taking place at London’s Barbican. He will also be performing at a number of summer festivals, starting on 1 May with Red Bull Music Academy Festival in New York.
Listen To Album Track ‘Xihukwani’ Here: https://soundcloud.com/nozinja/xihukwani
LIVE DATES:
01/05 New York, Red Bull Music Academy Festival @ Villain
17/07 Ferropolis, MELT! Festival
22-23/07 London, Station to Station @ Barbican
24/07 Manchester, Soup Kitchen
25/07 Sheffield, Tramlines Festival
New Nozinja (Shangaan Electro) video for ‘Tsekeleke’ now live
‘Tsekeleke’ is the first release by Nozinja since signing to the label, the video was filmed in Johannesburg and directed by Chris Saunders.
The new track will feature on a 12” due out later this year, more information about Nozinja and the Shangaan electro sound is available here, where you can also listen to a playlist of his previous collaborations, remixers and productions.
April
- 29 – Bristol – Start The Bus – Tickets / Info
- 30 – Brighton – Bermuda Triangle – Tickets / Info
May
- 01 – Liverpool – Sound City – Tickets / Info
- 02 – Paris – La Machine du Moulin Rouge – Tickets / Info
- 03 – Krems – Donau Festival – Tickets / Info
- 04 – London – Electrowerkz – Tickets / Info
- 05 – Sheffield – The Harley – Tickets / Info
- 08 – Gent – Vooruit – Tickets / Info
- 09 – Berlin – Urban Spree – Tickets / Info
- 10 – Utrecht – Spiegelbar – Tickets / Info
August
- 02 – Katowice – Tauron Nowa Muzyka Festival – Tickets / Info
Nozinja (Shangaan Electro) signs to Warp Records
Nozinja is the South African producer, showman and innovator behind the revolutionary dance movement known as ‘shangaan electro’. Freshly signed to Warp Records, he now presents a brand new live show showcasing the inimitable next-level programming, hyper-speed dance moves and soulful vocal hooks that make this a club experience like no other.
Shangaan electro connects South African folk tradition with contemporary genres like kwaito and house, and Nozinja has transcended these reference points to dream up his own iconic Afro-futurist strain of electronic dance music. There is nothing quite like a Nozinja production: it is home-grown rave music in its purest form.
The Soweto-based, svengali has produced a hugely popular back catalogue of tapes, CDs and DVDs for the local market, a choice selection of which was released on the much-acclaimed Honest Jon’s compilation ‘Shangaan Electro’ and later futureshocked in fine style on ‘Shangaan Shake’, an arsenal of killer remixes from the likes of Ricardo Villalobos, Actress, Theo Parrish and DJ Rashad & DJ Spinn. More recently Dan Snaith (aka Caribou) has put out a string of Nozinja-produced singles (as Xitsonga Dance and Tshetsha Boys) on his Jiaolong imprint.
Forthcoming shows
Tickets 29/04/2014 Bristol Start The Bus
Tickets 30/04/2014 Brighton Bermuda Triangle
Tickets 01/05/2014 Liverpool Liverpool Sound City
Tickets 02/05/2014 Paris La Machine
Tickets 03/05/2014 Krems Donau Festival
Tickets 04/05/2014 London Electrowerkz Soundcrash
Tickets 05/05/2014 Sheffield The Harley
Tickets 08/05/2014 Ghent Vooruit/Balzaal
Tickets 09/05/2014 Berlin Urban Spree
Tickets 10/05/2014 Utrect Tivoli SpiegelbarPress
The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/jul/05/nozinja-shangaan-electro
The Quietus interview – http://thequietus.com/articles/12926-shangaan-electro-nozinja-interview
Warp announcement http://warp.net/records/nozinja/signs-with-warp